Massachusetts high court knocks down 'Son of Sam' bill
By The Associated Press
03.18.02
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BOSTON — A bill designed to block criminals from profiting from their crimes violates free-speech provisions of the state and federal constitutions, the state's highest court has ruled.
Lawmakers had asked for the court's opinion on the bill, which would set aside profits a criminal makes from selling his story. The profits would then be distributed to victims.
Supporters said the bill was designed to prevent criminals from making money from the sale of books or from movie deals.
Opponents said the bill trampled on the right to free speech and would discourage anyone ever convicted of a crime from telling his or her story.
The state Supreme Judicial Court sided with critics last week, saying the legislation was too broad.
The court found the bill targeted a certain kind of content, specifically "works that describe, re-enact or otherwise are related to the commission of a crime."
In order to target content, the bill would have to serve a "compelling state interest" and be narrowly written. The court found the bill was not narrow enough because it would include anyone who "voluntarily admitted the commission of a crime," even if they were never charged.
The court also found that the bill, which would require money owed to a defendant be held in an escrow account, would have a chilling effect on writers and publishers.
"Interfering with publishers' ability to compensate an entire class of authors will likely prevent publishers from preparing and publishing works concerning people who have, at some point in their lives, engaged in criminal activity," the court ruled.
The court also found that there are more precise remedies to prevent criminals from profiting from crimes, including probation requirements and civil action against a defendant's assets.
Supporters of the bill include Deborah Eappen. In 1997, British au pair Louise Woodward was convicted of killing Eappen's 8-month-old-son Matthew.
Eappen last year testified in favor of the bill, saying Woodward, who gained international notoriety because of the crime, shouldn't be able to profit by telling her story in print or movies.
Opponents said the bill could have discouraged the works of authors like Martin Luther King Jr., for example, who wrote his famous treatise on the Jim Crow South, "Letter From Birmingham Jail," while sitting in a jail cell in 1963.
Similar laws around the country have been called "Son of Sam" laws after convicted serial killer David Berkowitz, the so-called "Son of Sam," whose efforts to sell the rights to his story spurred the first such legislation in New York.
The U.S. Supreme Court found that the New York law, and others inspired by it, including an earlier Massachusetts' version, violated the First Amendment.
Legislative sponsors of the new Massachusetts bill will review the court's ruling before deciding what to do next, said Mark Fine, a spokesman for state Sen. Cynthia Creem, D-Newton.
"The legislative proponents will take a look of the court's opinion and see if they can rework the bill," Fine said. "Obviously it would be a narrower bill."
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